Everyone who has spent any time enjoying the visual arts is familiar with woodcuts. They are often very warm and tactile and inviting prints traditionally printed in black ink but often done in color in the last hundred years or so. Woodcuts are made by carving away the parts of a wood block that the artist wants to show as white, the negative spaces in the image. And the carving is done with any number of different knives or gouges or chisels in the plank grain or long grain of the wood…the softer side. And then the ink is applied to the remaining raised surface, a sheet of paper is laid over the block, and the entire thing is run through a press to transfer the ink from block to paper.
But now the Emil H. Mathis gallery at UWM is featuring the Wood Engravers’ Network’s Fifth Triennial exhibition. So this is a real opportunity to delve into wood engravings which are similar but they are not the same as a woodcut. A wood engraving is carved in the end grain of a piece of wood, the cross cut side for those carpenters out there. And then that piece is finished to a very fine surface and tinted before the drawing is transferred to the block or in some cases actually drawn on the block. The tools used in engraving are far smaller, far sharper, and very fine compared to those used in woodcuts. That is required because of the harder surface in the end grain wood. But the advantage of these fine tools and the harder wood surface is a medium that exhibits far more detail and far more possibilities for tints, shading, and other subtleties. Once completed the block is printed a similar fashion to a woodcut but the prints will generally be smaller because the end grain pieces of wood are smaller to start with.
The Wood Engravers’ Network’s Fifth Triennial exhibition was juried by Max Yela, the Head of Special Collections at the Golda Meir Library at UWM. He has selected a marvelous collection of 60 engravers from an international array of artists. So subject matter and technique and genre run the gamut of the possibilities of wood engraving. Now let’s step into the 21st Century a bit and realize that the woods most sought after for engraving have become more scarce and far more expensive. So there are now a number of synthetic surfaces in use including corian for example, a product similar to corian counter tops. So you will see a few prints using these new materials as well.
So if you are not familiar with wood engravings or not quite sure how they differ from woodcuts, this is the perfect opportunity to explore the medium. And as an extra bonus Yela has also included a few books and engravings from UWM’s Special Collections as a counterpoint. This is a rare chance to see some of these items as well.
The show is free and open to the public but the gallery has limited hours: 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM, Monday through Thursday. The show continues through May 1, 2025. The Emil H Mathis gallery is located on the ground floor of Mitchell Hall, room 170, at 3203 N Downer Avenue, the north west corner of Downer Ave. and Kenwood Ave.
And now a few of my favorites…and an attempt to lure you into the gallery. I apologize for some of the funny angles, I was trying my best to reduce glare (and the reflection of my red overcoat):
And here’s two from the UWM Special Collections:
